TOWNSEND
-- Voters overwhelmingly endorsed a proposal to create a 2.5-mile
rail-trail in town at a special election Wednesday evening.

A
referendum asking voters if they want the town to pursue the project
passed by 1,021-to-259 margin, as nearly 80 percent of voters approved
the idea.

Though
the vote was non-binding, the project's biggest proponents said
Wednesday's results demonstrate that residents are firmly behind the
project.

"I
think the people of Townsend have spoken," said Steve Meehan,
chairman of the Squannacook River Rail-Trail Feasibility Committee, a
private organization that has studied the project for the past three
years. "There is public support for this project."

The
group hopes to construct a trail that will run from the Harbor Village
Shopping Center, near the Groton town line, west to Depot Street in the
town center.

Following
Wednesday's results, the town will start negotiating a lease agreement
with the MBTA to lease the trails that would be converted.

The
committee's members have said they plan to use some of the $4 million
U.S. Rep. John W. Olver earmarked last July specifically for bike paths
in North Central Massachusetts to pay for the project. But before they
can access the federal money, the committee must pay $25,000 on its own
for an engineering study.

Meehan
said that grant-writing and fundraising for the study could begin as
early as next week.

Property
owners abutting the proposed rail-trail had vocally opposed the project
in recent weeks, but clearly did not muster enough support to defeat the
project.

Nonetheless,
another committee member, Bill Rideout, said the committee still wants
to work together with affected abutters.

"As
a group we're committed to do this right -- to make sure it doesn't
interfere with businesses in town and to take care of abutters'
concerns," he said.

Also
Wednesday evening, David R. Chenelle was elected to the Board of
Selectmen. Chenelle, who was running opposed, will replace Peter H.
Collins, who resigned from the board last winter. Chenelle received
1,050 votes.